


To Dazzling Darkness

by MomoMisfortune



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alcohol, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Blowjobs, Eren has a lot of piercings, M/M, Making Out, Pre-Undercut Levi, Prep!Levi, Punk!Eren, Recreational Drug Use, Sexual Content, handjobs
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-11-09
Updated: 2015-01-25
Packaged: 2017-12-31 22:17:53
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 17,898
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1037015
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MomoMisfortune/pseuds/MomoMisfortune
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Eighteen year old punk kid Eren Jaeger moved into the big city to start a band. While browsing around a music store not far from his apartment he runs into twenty-four year old preppy college student Levi. When he discovers they share a similar interest in a Japanese rock band he refuses to let him leave the store without his phone number. </p><p>A story about Eren helping Levi find his true self and learning to take control of his own life.</p><p>Rated Explicit for future chapters.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Strange Encounter

**Author's Note:**

> Okay so this is my first time writing something like this. Normally I only write smutty oneshot fics. I'm almost 100% sure this chapter flows kinda weird but like I said this is my first time writing a fanfic like this. I'll try to update once a week. (◡﹏◡✿) 
> 
> Also the title for this fic is based off a song but I won't post what song or by what band just yet.
> 
> I hope you all enjoy what little I have so far. (づ￣ ³￣)づ

Eighteen year old Eren Jaeger was finally free. He got out of his car and walked up to his new apartment building close to the heart of the city. The ride in the elevator up to his new place seemed to take forever. When he got to his door he set down his guitar and took out his keys. This was the start of his new life. He swung open the door and rushed inside.

“This is it.” He said to himself. All his boxes and furniture were already inside. He had some friends help him move everything before he came himself. The place was pretty old and run down. It was all he could afford since he dropped out of high school. He started working when he was sixteen and put most of his money into a savings account so he could move into the city to fulfil his dream. He wanted to start a band.

            It took him most of the day to unpack all his belongings and find homes for them.  After he did some cleaning up he decided that he would take a walk around the city to get a feel for his surroundings. He discovered that in his neighborhood there were some cool hangout places. A coffee shop, music store, a bar that had local bands perform every Thursday, Friday and Saturday night, and small movie theater.

“Looks like I picked the right neighborhood.” He said to himself. He made his way back to his apartment. Once inside he sat on his couch and opened up his laptop, then his phone rang.

“Hello?”

“Hey Eren!”

“What’s up Armin?” Eren’s childhood friend Armin was attending the college in this town. Which is one reason Eren decided to move here. They were complete opposites. Armin was always Eren’s voice of reason. He was a smart kid, Valedictorian in his graduating class and got a full ride to the college he is attending. Eren was just some punk kid with piercings everywhere who got angry at the stupidest things. 

“I was just calling to see how things were going. You moved in today right?”

“Yeah today was the day. I got most of my things put away. I didn’t have much anyway… Hey do you know anyone who wants to be in a band?” Eren asked with an excited tone to his voice. “I’m working on some fliers to hang up around town tomorrow. Maybe I could give you some to put up around your school.”

“I haven’t meet many people here yet since the semester just started, but I guess I could help out. Also you know I don’t really hang around people like…well people who are into similar things like you are.” Armin paused for a second. “Well besides you of course, but you’re the only exception!”

Eren laughed. “That’s okay man, but if you could at least hang up some fliers that would help out a lot. Hey let’s meet up somewhere tomorrow for coffee. I found this place in my neighborhood we could try.”

“Alright that sound good. Just text me the address tomorrow. How about around 10 a.m.?”

“I don’t know man, that’s pretty early don’t you think?” Eren sighed.

“Are you kidding Eren? Have you been staying up late again? I told you that’s not good for your health! Stop drinking so much soda and energy drinks!!” Armin continued to rant to Eren about eating properly and getting on a regular sleep schedule. He finally managed to get him to stop and they agreed on a time to meet up. Eren stayed up till almost three in the morning making sure his fliers were perfect. He didn’t even make it to his bed to sleep. He passed out on the couch with his clothes still on and laptop on top of him.

 

-

 

The next morning Eren spent an hour printing out over one hundred fliers. He then had to run to the coffee shop before Armin decided it was time to call him and yell at him for being late. Sure enough when he did get there Armin could tell he had been up all night. They got their coffee and sat down at a table inside.

“Eren, did you get another piercing?” Armin had an unamused look on his face. Eren scratched his head.

“Well I don’t think you’ve seen my septum piercing yet…And I did get my tongue pierced just before I moved here…”

“YOU GOT YOUR TONGUE PIERCED?” Armin yelled. Eren flinched. “Eren what were you thinking??”

“Come on Armin what are you my mom? I moved here so I could get away from all of that. Besides I heard that if you have a tongue piercing it makes-“

“Whoa stop right there I don’t want to hear about that.” Armin covered his face with his hands. “How about we just get to hanging up these fliers?”

“Finally.” Eren sat up and headed for the door and before walking out he tacked a flier up on a cork board near the entrance of the coffee shop. He looked back at Armin and gave hima thumbs up before rushing outside. Armin followed behind Eren as they hit a few other places before making their last stop at the music store near Eren’s apartment.

“Hey I’m gonna look around a bit before we get outta here.” Eren started to walk away from Armin.

“Actually I should head back to my dorm. I have to work on a paper and homework for classes.” Armin sighed. “It’s only the second week and I am swamped with work.”

“Maybe if you weren’t so smart you wouldn’t have to take all those smart nerd classes.” Eren let out a laugh.

“Haha very funny. I’ll come see your apartment some other day. Make sure you don’t get lost!” Armin waved as he headed out the door.

Eren wondered around the store and looked through a few vinyl’s he found. Nothing really caught his eye so he moved on to the CDs. He noticed this store in particular carried music from foreign countries so he thought he would see if they had the newest CD by one of his favorite Japanese rock bands.

“A…B…C, D, E, F…G.” He stopped a few feet away from someone else who was standing in the same area. He moved a little closer to get a better look at the selection. When he found what he was looking for he reached out his hand to grab the cd in the front. He felt his fingers brush against something warm and turned to see the other person had also reached for the same CD. They stared at each other for a moment before the stranger pulled his hand away.

“Ah sorry about tha-,“ Eren tried to get out an apology before he noticed the stranger reach into his pocket and pull out a small bottle of hand sanitizer. He watched in amazement as the person vigorously rub his hands clean. He wasn’t sure if he should feel insulted or just ignore it. “Uhh sorry about that…” The stranger looked up at him.

“It’s okay.” He said quietly. They stood in silence for a moment. Eren got a good look at the stranger who was standing before him. He was short, he had short black hair that was parted on the side and reached down to bottom of his ears. He had blue-grey eyes and this dull expression on his face, but there was something about him that Eren found…attractive. Eren observed his outfit and saw that he was wearing a button up shirt underneath a cardigan with a pair of blue jeans and slip on shoes.

Eren didn’t blame him for thinking he was dirty. He had multiply piercings on his face. One on this lip, one in his nose, one on his eyebrow,  one on his tongue and several on his ears. He was wearing black Doc Martens with a pair of ripped up pants and black long shirt with a white cross on it. To complete his outfit he finished it off with a studded collar, studded wristband, and studded ring. To Eren, the stranger looked like one of those ‘Prep’ kids. He was surprised to find him reaching for this particular CD. Then again who was he to judge someone’s musical taste, especially if it was the same as his own.

“So do you listen to this band?” Eren said as he grabbed the cd. “I’ve been excited for their new album to come out. I heard it’s really good.” The stranger didn’t say anything. He just stared at the floor. “…My name’s Eren. What’s yours?”

“…Levi…”


	2. Lucky Break

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eren gets a phone number, a job, and weed all in one chapter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay on this chapter x___x;; I know I said I would get these out at least once a week but things happened and yeah. Though I am really glad with the length of this chapter! 
> 
> Enjoy~

“…Levi…”

“Levi? That’s an interesting name.” Eren stared at the short stranger before him.

“…Yeah…I guess it’s not very common…” Levi looked back at the CDs. Eren noticed that the one he grabbed was the last new CD out on display.

“Looks like this is the last one. If you were going to buy it I can hand it over. I’ll get it some other time.” Eren held out the CD. Levi finally looked up at him. They made eye contact and Eren felt that they made some sort of…connection. He realized in his head that it sounded kind of weird putting it like that, but he knew it felt something.

“Ah, no it’s okay. I really shouldn’t buy these kinds of CDs anyway…” Levi broke eye contact and looked off to the side. Eren retracted his arm and looked down at the CD.

“Do your parents have a problem with you listening to this kind of stuff? I know mine never approved of anything I did when I was a kid.”

“Tch,” There was silence for a moment. “I’m not a kid. I’m twenty-four years old.” Levi practically growled at Eren.

“Whaatt??” Eren looked at Levi confused. “Shit I’m sorry,” He scratched the back of his head. “I never would have thought you were older than me.”

“Well now you know.” Levi began to walk away from Eren.

“Hey wait!” Eren chased after him. “If you want you should come by my place sometime and listen to the CD with me.” Levi stopped. He slowly turned around but didn’t say anything. “So how about it? Do you have a cellphone? You should give me your number!”

Levi sighed. He played with the bottom of his cardigan for a bit, then he reached into the pocket of his pants and pulled out his phone. Eren’s eyes lit up. ‘ _I never thought it’d be this easy to get this guy’s number._ ’ He thought to himself. The older, but shorter, man looked at his phone, then put it back into his pocket. Eren could feel his heart being crushed. ‘ _God dammit.’_

“Listen, Eren was it? It was nice chatting, but I need to leave. Now if you’ll excuse me.” Levi went to go turn around when Eren grabbed onto his sleeve.

“Wait! I mean I just moved here and I really don’t know anyone. You seem, well, sorta like a cool person. Come on let’s hang out sometime. I promise I’m not that weird.” Eren didn’t really understand what about this person he was so attracted to. When they made eye contact he felt like the stranger had something he was hiding, and he wanted to know what it was. Why would a twenty-four year old man not be able to buy something as simple as a CD? They stood in silence for a moment. Then Levi reluctantly held out his hand.

“Give me your phone.” Eren eagerly handed over his phone. He watched as Levi imputed his number and gave it back to him. Eren could see the regret on his face. “I swear to god kid if you blow up my phone…”

“I promise I won’t!” Eren smiled. He stared at the number in his phone. ‘ _Levi. No last name, huh?.’_

Eren finally let Levi walk away. As he saw him head for the door Eren called the number on his phone. He watched Levi reach into his pocket and look at his phone. He instantly turned his head to look at Eren. Eren waved at him and Levi put his phone back in his pocket and left the store.

-

When Eren got back to his apartment he popped his new CD into his stereo and hit play. He decided that he should try and empty some random boxes he left unpacked. They were simple things like movies, video games, guitar parts, etc.

“Finally.” He let out a deep breath when the official last box was empty. He decided he should throw away most of the boxes and keep a few in a closet just in case. As he made his way to the elevator his phone rang.

“Hello?”

“Eren is that you?” a voice asked.

“…Mikasa?” Eren almost dropped the boxes. “How did you get my number?”

“Armin gave it to me.” Mikasa replied.

“God dammit. Look Mikasa I don’t have time for this right now.” He could hear Mikasa try to tell him to wait as he hung up the phone. He made it downstairs and threw the boxes in the dumpster outside. When he returned upstairs he called Armin.

“Armin what the hell man??” He yelled into the phone. “Why did you give Mikasa my number??”

“I’m sorry Eren! I just really want you guys to fix things. We all used to be so close…” Armin got quiet. Eren sighed.

“Look I understand where you’re coming from, but she took things too seriously and I didn’t want to deal with it. Unless she can come to terms with what happened I’m not talking to her.” Eren hung up his phone in frustration. He checked the time and noticed it was getting late. He was still feeling sluggish from the move and decided to get into bed early. Tomorrow he had to go out and look for a job.

-

The next day came and Eren was up and out by noon. He walked around his neighborhood and checked with a few places to see if anywhere had a job opening. It seemed like everywhere he went was not hiring and he was starting to lose hope. ‘ _Well at least I already paid for 6 months of rent.’_ He thought to himself. He walked past the same music store from yesterday and noticed an employee putting a sign up that read “Now Hiring” and promptly bolted inside.

“Excuse me I’d like to apply here!” He practically screamed with excitement. The person putting up the sign stared at him, then laughed.

“Haha well that sure was fast. Alright kid who’s your favorite band?” The girl ripped the sign off the window.

“Uhh well I really like this foreign band called the GazettE.” Eren watched as the girl moved over to the counter and gestured for Eren to follow her.

“Weren’t you in here yesterday?” She asked as she searched through papers behind the counter.

“Yeah I came in and bought a CD.” Eren replied.

“Do you know how to work a cash register?”

“Yeah.”

“Well you sure do look the part to work in this store.” The girl handed Eren some paperwork and a pen. “Fill this out. There are tables by the window.”

Eren studied the girl’s face closely. She had tanned skin and freckles on her cheeks. Her hair was parted down the middle in a low ponytail. She was wearing a shirt with a symbol on it Eren recognized from a specific clothing brand paired with ripped up jeans and studded flats. Her name tag read ‘Ymir’. Eren took the paperwork and filled it out pretty quickly. He returned it and she looked it over.

“You’ve had a lot of jobs for being only 18 kid.” She set the paper down. “When can you start?”

“I can start now if you want me to.” She could see his eyes glistening.

“I like your determination. Come in the back and I’ll show you around. The name’s Ymir by the way. I see your name is Eren. Nice to meet you!” She held her hand out.

“Nice to meet you too.” They shook hands and Ymir lead Eren through a door behind the counter. “This is our break room. There’s a men’s room to the right and a ladies room to the left. We have a few lockers in here where you can store your stuff. Feel free to use your cellphone while working; It can get pretty slow around here. Too many people illegally downloading music ya know? For the most part there are always two or three people on staff. The other person that was supposed to be working today called in so I guess it’s a good thing you showed up. I’ll show you were to punch in and out.”

Eren spent most of the afternoon learning more about his new job. He wasn’t surprised about how simple it was. There weren’t that many customers so it gave him more time to talk to Ymir.

“So how were you able to hire me so quickly?” He asked. They sat at the counter drinking soda that Ymir picked up from the corner store next to their building.  

“Well my family actually owns this place and I’ve worked here since I was about 16. My Dad leaves me in charge of hiring since I am pretty good at judging people.” She slowly sipped her soda.

“You’re family owns this place? That’s wicked! I’ve only dreamed of working at a place like this. Hey tell me about our co-workers.”

“First off, we got Annie, she’s pretty quiet and keeps to herself a lot. But she’ll take you down if you say anything rude to her. Then there is Reiner, big burly guy. Plays the drums. And last is Bertholdt. We just call him Bert. Tall sweaty guy. Really nice though. He always hovers around Reiner. I think he has the hots for him.” Ymir laughed. Eren could tell he was going to like working here.

“Hey you said this Reiner guy plays the drums right? Is he in a band or interested in joining one?” Eren asked.

“Hmm? Oh were you the one that hung up that flier the other day? Reiner actually worked that day. He looked at it and considered calling you. He works tomorrow. You want to come in around noon?”

“Sounds good. I don’t have anything else I’m doing right now. I’ve only been in town for three days.”

“Oh you just moved here? I was wondering why I’ve never seen your face around here. Going to school or something?”

“Haha no just getting away from my parents. Family life was never really something great for me. I had to get out of that town.” Eren laid his head on the counter.

“Sucks to hear that man. At least you managed to get out of there.”

“Yeah…say I hope this doesn’t come out weird but…do you know where I could get some dope?” Eren shifted his eyes to Ymir. She put her drink down.

“Depends. How much you looking for?” She asked. “When we close up store I can take you upstairs. I live in the apartment up there.”

“Fuck yes this job just keeps getting better and better.” Eren sat up and stretched out. Ymir laughed.

“Man you are one funny kid. Okay funny kid it’s almost seven. Let’s start cleaning.”

Ymir locked up the doors and Eren began sweeping the wooden floor. They finished cleaning close to eight. They headed upstairs to Ymir’s apartment.

“Welcome to my abode.” Ymir opened the door to reveal a big living room. There was a couch against one of the walls with a TV sitting on a table on the opposite wall. A coffee table covered in magazines sat in the middle of the room. Eren noticed a shelf next to the TV that had a record/CD player with lots of vinyl’s and CD’s.

“Feel free to check anything out. I’ll go grab what I have.” Ymir disappeared down a hallway. Eren took a seat on the couch and waited for her to come back. A few minutes later she walked back out with a paper bag and a small glass pipe. She pulled out a small plastic bag from the paper bag and handed it to Eren. He reached for his wallet.

“This one’s on me. If you like it then we can talk prices.” She tossed the small bag at Eren and he caught it. He noticed she had the bowl of the pipe packed. “Care to smoke before you head home?”

“How could I refuse?” He laughed.

They sat on Ymir’s couch and passed the pipe back and forth. Ymir put on a record before they started. The music was very smoothing and had a nice beat.

“So Eren,” Ymir began to talk as she dumped the ashes from the bowl into a container. “You got a girlfriend or boyfriend or whatever the fuck you are into?” Eren laughed.

“Well not currently. I did see this hot guy in the store yesterday though. I even managed to get his number. Like what the fuck how did that even happen?”

“Haha damn kid you got lucky. Have you called him?”

“Man I want to so badly. I’m worried he might kill me or get annoyed with me. It was weird he looked like one of those preppy douchebags but he was looking at the same CD I bought yesterday. Then he even said something like ‘I shouldn’t buy stuff like that’ like what the fuck? He told me he’s twenty-four years old and he ‘shouldn’t’ buy a damn CD?” Eren ranted. Ymir just sat quietly and listened while staring at the wall.

“He’s totally hiding something. Eren, you should call him right now.” Ymir’s gaze left the spot on the wall and turned to Eren. “Wait no it’s pretty late. Normal people would be asleep right now. Don’t call him. Wait till tomorrow.”

“Alright I’ll call him tomorrow. So what about you Ymir? Anyone you have an eye for?” Eren questioned.

“Ahhh well I mean there is this blonde girl that comes into the store a lot…She’s so fucking cute and I swear she is an angel that fell from heaven. She even remembered what my favorite soda is and sometimes brings me drinks from next door when she works.”

“Either she’s being really nice or she has the hots for you Ymir. You should ask her out.”

“W-what?? No way man, I can’t do that!” Ymir’s face turned red. “Well I mean maybe I could I don’t know…”

“Okay here’s what we’ll do. I’ll call Levi tomorrow while at work. And if this girl-“

“Krista.”

“Okay if Krista comes into the store tomorrow, you’re going to ask her to hang out sometime. Got it?” Eren held out his hand.

“…You got yourself a deal.” Ymir took his hand and they shook on it.

It was getting late and Eren made his way back to his apartment. When he made it home he took a nice long shower and hopped into bed without even putting pajamas on. He dreamt of Levi for the first time that night.


	3. Levi

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Levi goes back to the music store.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay I am so sorry this took forever to get out. I hope this chapter was worth the wait. You get a little peak into Levi's personally life.

Levi looked at his phone and observed the unknown number, turning around to stare at the boy he had just met. He wrinkled his face ,  shoved the phone back in his pocket,  and walked out of the store. _‘What was I thinking…’_ he wondered as he walked down the busy sidewalk pausing at the crosswalk, taking the time to pull  his phone back out. After a moment of deliberation, he added the number into his contacts. _‘Shit, how the fuck to do I spell his name? Aaron? Eren? Arin? Fuck it I’m putting them all in here.’_

Levi made his way down the street until he arrived at  the university , walking  into one of the buildings. As he entered a classroom he was greeted very energetically by a girl who had her hair in a ponytail and wore glasses.  

“Hey Levi! Where’ve you been? Class is starting soon. Normally you get here pretty early.” She babbled.

“Does it matter, Hange?” Levi sighed as he walked into the classroom and sat down at a table. Hange flopped into the chair next to him.

“I guess it doesn’t, but learning how to have a real conversation every once in a while wouldn’t hurt,now would it?” Hange teased.  Levi rolled his eyes and took his laptop out from his messenger bag.

“If you must know I was at a music store.” He said, deciding to humor her endless curiosity as he turned on his laptop.

“Oooo a music store. See any cute boys?” Hange snorted. Levi shot her a nasty look. “Sorry, sorry I was just kidding!” She glanced around the room. “I’m sure nobody heard that.”

“You better hope not.”  

 

* * *

 

The whole day seemed to drag on for Levi. When his classes were over he walked out to the street and pulled out his phone.

“…Come have the driver pick me up.” He commanded in a droll tone.

“Right away, Sir.” The voice on the other side said. He waited around for a few minutes before a black car pulled up. The man driving the car stepped out and opened the back door for him to get in. As the car drove away from campus and into the city, Levi looked down at his phone the entire ride. _‘What am I doing? Why do I want to talk to that kid?’_  The car pulled up to a gate and driver rolled down the window and spoke into a speaker that was standing up from the ground. With a loud buzzing sound, the gate opened and the car drove along a winding road until it revealed a huge house.

The car came to a stop. The drive got out and made his way to Levi’s door and opened it for him. He got out of the car and made his way up the steps to the big house. Levi opened the door and gently closed it behind him. The room was big. A chandelier hung from the ceiling in the center with two sets of stairs on either side of the main entrance.  Potted plants scattered here and there, some tables placed accordingly with  random chairs next to them. Levi made his way towards the staircase and began to make his up. When he reached the top he made his way down a long hallway, turning a corner and bumping into a tall blonde figure.

“Ah, there you are Levi.” The blonde man said.

“What is it Erwin?” Levi looked up at him.

“Father was waiting for you to get home. He has something he wants to discuss with you.” Erwin spoke.

“ He wants to see me? Where’s the old man at? His office?” Levi began to move away from Erwin.

“Yes. I told him I’d let him know when you got home, but since you are already here you might as well just head in there.”

“Alright. Thanks.” Levi moved down the hall till he stopped in front of a door. He took a deep breathe in and exhaled before he knocked on the door.

“Come in.” He heard from outside. He grabbed the door knob and made his way inside. In the room there were a few chairs and a long couch with bookshelves covering the walls. In the center back on the room was a desk. There was a man sitting at the desk.

“I was wondering when you’d arrive home, Levi.” The man spoke.

“I just got back from class. I was about to head to my room when I bumped into Erwin. He said you wanted to see me.” Levi made his way towards the desk.

“Yes I did. Please come have a seat.” Levi’s father motioned his hand to a chair in front of his desk. Levi took a seat and put his school bag on the floor next to his feet. “Your school grades are very impressive. All your professors speak very highly of you.”

“I try my best.” Levi said.

“You should have no problem finding an internship within the coming months. Have you looked into any firms you would like to join?” His father asked.

“Nothing has caught my eye.”

“You’ll find one soon I’m sure. You’ll make a great lawyer, Levi.” His father praised.

“Thank you, Father.” Levi replied.  “Is there anything else you wanted to discuss?”

“You’re free to go. I’m sure you have things you need to attend to.” Levi got up from the chair, grabbed his belongings, and moved towards the door before he was stopped by his father’s voice as he reached for the door knob.

“By the way, how is Petra? It’s been awhile since she’s been over. I hope you two are getting along.” He asked. Levi froze for a moment. He turned his head.

“She’s fine.” He opened the door and left the room.

 

* * *

 

It was a friday and Levi didn’t have class. He slept in for a bit till he decided to get up. He showered, got dress (pair of jeans and a pullover sweater with a button up shirt under it), and ate breakfast. Levi went back up to his room and sat at his desk to get started on some homework. As he worked he would glance over at his phone. _‘Still nothing, eh?_ ’ He was honestly quite surprised. The kid seemed pretty eager to get his number. Levi tried to guess how old he was. He knew he was legal, but also younger than himself. _‘He’s got to be 18.’_ He thought. When he realized he was thinking about him and not doing his homework he mentally punched himself and got back to work.

Around four o’clock p.m. Levi finished his work and decided to head into town. He called the driver to have him pick him up from the house. Leaving his room, he made his way down the hall and towards the stairs. Erwin was at the bottom of the stairs when he reached the bottom..

“Where are you heading?” He asked.

“Just going into town for a bit. If anyone asks just tell them I’m running some errands.” Levi said.

“Alright, but you owe me.” Erwin sighed. “Try and be back at a reasonable time. Your mother has been worried about you. You’re always out or locked in your room.”

“I wont be gone long I promise.” Levi walked over to the door and exited the house.

* * *

 

The driver dropped him off a few blocks away from the music store he was searching for. Levi watched him drive away and began to walk down the street. There was a ringing in his pocket. Reaching in and grabbing his phone he looked at the screen and noticed it was the kid from the other day calling him. It took him a moment to collect his thoughts before he decided to actually answer.

“I’m surprised it took you this long to try and call me.” He spoke into the phone. He heard what sounded like someone choking on liquid on the other side of the line.

“ Gah Fuck, uh, I mean I was worried about bothering you, or something.” The kid spoke.  Levi got closer to the store.

“Well you should feel lucky, you caught me while I have free time.”

“Ah, I’m glad. So would that mean you are free, say, tonight?”

“Depends.” Levi was outside the store. Pushing the door open, he walked inside. When he was in he turned his head towards the desk and froze. The kid was sitting right there. _‘Figures.’_ Levi thought to himself. There was a tanned girl sitting next to him.  She nudged his shoulder.

“Damn talk about perfect timing!” She laughed. Eren laughed nervously into the phone and looked at Levi, who had hung up on his end. The girl nudged him again and whispered to him. “Go talk to him.” Eren leaped up from his seat and walked over to Levi, trying not to seem too eager.

Levi looked up at him. He was wearing a black beanie on his head, spiked collar around his neck, camo jacket with a black v-neck under it, ripped pants and black boots. He noticed he also had eyeliner smudged around his _gorgeous_ green eyes.

“So what brings you here?” He asked.

“Just browsing.” Levi replied. It was quiet between the two of them for moment. “By the way, how the fuck do you spell your name?” Eren stared blankly at Levi, then laughed.

“It’s E-r-e-n. Eren.” He said. Levi looked at his phone and fixed his contact information.

“Well, Eren, picking back up from our conversation earlier; if I am free tonight what would you have planned to do?” Levi crossed his arms.

“Well we could go to my place and listen to that CD. If you’re interested.” Eren tucked his hands into his pants pockets. Levi arched an eyebrow. That would be something he’d be interested in. He wasn’t sure if that’s all this kid was thinking though. Inviting him over to his place. Just the two of them. Alone. In the back of Levi’s mind he knew he shouldn’t, but there was something about this kid that made him want to say ‘fuck everything’ and just do it.

“Alright.” He answered.

“Really?!” Levi could hear the excitement in Eren’s voice.

“Yeah why not.” Levi shrugged.  He had nothing better to do. And he didn’t care to be at home.

“Hold on one second.” Eren ran over to the desk. “Ymir, can I bounce early?”

“Yeah yeah go ahead I heard the whole thing.” She said waving her hand around.

“Thanks!” Eren said as he ran into a back room and came back out with a bag. “Shall we go then?”

“Lead the way.” Levi gestured for him to walk in front of him. As they left the building Eren held the door open for Levi. He figured he was trying really hard to impress him. They walked side by side down the sidewalk in silence. Levi would occasionally glance over at Eren. Eren noticed him looking and spoke.

“So do you live on this side of town?” He asked.

“No. I live a ways out.” Levi replied.

“Really? Then what brings you over here?”

“School mostly. Sometimes when I have days off I just come and walk around.”

“What are you going to school for?”

“Law. You know you ask a lot of questions.”

“Ah, Sorry.” Eren scratched at the back of his head. “I just want to get to know you. Does it bother you?” Levi was silent for a moment.

“Not really.  I’m used to being asked a lot of questions by people.” It was true. He always had to deal with his classmate Hange asking him what felt like millions of questions each time she saw him.

They continued down the sidewalk for a bit longer before they stopped in front of a building.

“This is it.” Eren said walking up to the place. Levi looked up at the apartment complex. _‘Better than I expected.’_ He assumed it would be some cheap, run down apartment, but it was actually quite average. He followed Eren into the building and into the elevator.

“And here I thought you’d be living in some run-down place.” Levi admitted.

“What made you think that? My appearance? You know it’s not nice to label someone.” He laughed. Levi tried not to smile as he thought about how cute Eren’s laugh was just now. The elevator stopped and they walked out and down the hallway. Stopping in front of a door, Eren fished a keychain out of his bag. He unlocked the door and swung it open. “After you.”


	4. Getting To Know You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eren has Levi over at his apartment. They listen to music and talking about their lives.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am the worst at getting chapters out I am so sorry guys. Hope it was worth the wait though! More stuff at the end. 
> 
> Also hope the beginning isn't too confusing.
> 
> EDIT: I am tracking the tag 'fic: to dazzling darkness' on tumblr!

_Earlier that day_

 

“Eren, you’re finally here!” Ymir said as Eren walked through the front doors of his new workplace. “Reiner’s here and is dying to meet you.”

 

“Where’s he at?” Eren asked, looking around.

 

“He’s in the back. Come on.” Ymir gestured for him to follow her to the back room. When they made their way inside, Eren saw a big, built blonde guy sitting at the table that was in the room. He had on a white t-shirt and a regular pair of blue jeans.

 

“Hey, you must be Eren!” He said with excitement as he stood from the table. “Nice to meet you! Name’s Reiner.” He extended his hand and Eren reached out for it.

 

“Nice to meet you as well.” They shook hands. “I heard you play the drums. Would you be interested in making a band with me?” Eren asked.

 

“I saw that flier you hung up the other day. I’ve been considering trying to put a band together myself. Almost like fate brought us together wouldn’t you say?” Reiner laughed.

 

“Maybe it did, who are we to question it?” Eren laughed as well. Reiner had one of those laughs that made everyone else want to join in.

 

Reiner, Ymir, and Eren left the back room and headed back into the store. Eren helped Reiner organize CD’s while Ymir sat at the front desk.

 

“So what do you play?” Reiner asked Eren.

 

“I play guitar and sing.” Eren replied.

 

“Guitar and a singer, huh? Bet you get a lot of action with that!”

 

“You could say that.” Eren grinned. “Haven’t gotten any in a long time though. Been too busy working my ass off to move out. You seeing anyone?” He asked.

 

“Are you hitting on me, Eren?” Reiner raised an eyebrow and Eren shoved him. “Kidding, kidding!  I’m not seeing anyone right now. Tell you what though, if Ymir wasn’t all gaga over that girl who works next door I would totally go after her. Speaking of Krista…” Reiner nudged Eren and nodded towards the door. Eren turned his head and saw someone walking in. She was a short girl with long blonde hair and bright blue eyes. She wore a floral print dress and a pair of platform sneakers and was holding a plastic bag with something inside. The small girl walked up to the counter where Ymir was sitting. Reiner and Eren watched closely from the distance.

 

“How are you today, Ymir?” Krista asked with a bright smile.

 

“I’m doing good. How about yourself?” She replied. Eren was impressed by how well Ymir kept her cool, knowing that she had a huge crush on the shorter girl.

 

“I’m good too. I wasn’t sure who was working today, so I brought everyone some energy drinks.” Krista said lifting the shopping bag and placing it on the counter. Ymir reached for it and looked inside.

 

“Hey thank you so much! We actually have a new worker.” Ymir turned her head and called out, “Boys get over here! Krista brought us some drinks.” Reiner and Eren got up and walked over. “Krista, this new guy here is Eren.” Krista looked up at Eren and smiled. Eren would be lying if he said her smile didn’t make his heart skip a beat.

 

“It’s nice to meet you!” She said cheerfully.

 

“Nice to meet you as well.” Eren replied.

 

“I should get back to work. Hope you all have a nice day.” Krista walked towards the door.

 

Eren looked at Ymir and whispered, “Remember that deal we made, Ymir.” Krista exited the store, Ymir watching her every step towards the next building over then looked back to Eren.

 

“Dammit.” She said as she got up and bolted out the door.

 

“What’s this deal?” Reiner asked.

 

“We made a deal that the next time Krista came in the store Ymir had to ask her out. And when that happened I had to call this guy I got a number from.” Eren answered. Reiner and Eren watched through the glass window as Ymir stopped Krista and said something to her. They watched as the two girls exchanged phones and what looked to be putting each other’s phone numbers into them. They waved to each other as they separated and Ymir came walking back inside.

 

“Guess who has a date tomorrow.” Ymir said victoriously. Reiner and Eren both started clapping.

 

“Congratulations!” They said in unison.

 

* * *

 

 

The building itself may have looked fantastic, but the inside of the apartments were exactly what Levi expected it to look like. Run down. It didn’t help that Eren’s apartment was dirty. There was a pile of boxes shoved into a corner, dishes stacked in the sink, and open cd cases all over a coffee table that sat in the middle of the living room. Levi was half tempted to walk out right then and there, but he held his breath and made his way into the apartment.

 

“Just as I expected, run down.” He sighed as he stared at the posters Eren had hung up all over the walls, trying to cover up stains that had been left there from previous tenants.

  
“Ha, yeah…” Eren had the decency to look slightly abashed. “They keep the rest of the place looking nice to give future tenants false hope. A load of bullshit, right?”

 

“You’ve been living here how many days? It’s filthy in here.” Levi grumbled. He stood next to the couch in front of the cd covered coffee table and contemplated if it was safe to sit on or not.

 

“I’ve been here almost a week…” Eren looked around at the place. “I guess I should clean up a little. Also you can sit on the couch. It’s not contaminated or anything, I promise. Do you want something to drink?”

 

Levi hesitated for a moment before placing his messenger bag on the floor and taking a seat on the couch. “What do you have?” He asked while reaching into his pocket to pull out a small bottle of hand sanitizer. Eren walked into his kitchen, which was connected to the living room in a big open space, and opened the fridge.

 

“Mountain Dew, water, milk, vodka, and uhhh some of this tea stuff that comes in a gallon container with that old guys face on it.” Eren turned to look at Levi and noticed him rubbing his hands.

 

“Aren’t you a few years too young to have vodka in your fridge?” Levi gave him a questioning look.

 

“You saying you’ve never had someone buy you alcohol when you were a teen before?”

 

“I don’t drink.”

 

“Seriously?”

 

“Only on special occasions. Oh, and I’ll have some of the old guy tea.”

 

Eren let out a small laugh before grabbing the gallon of tea and pouring some into a small glass. He reached back into the fridge and grabbed a can of soda for himself, then made his way to the couch. Handing Levi his tea, he set his can down on the coffee table and picked up the mess of CDs. Searching through the stack that was now in his hand, he picked one out and placed the others on a shelf next to a stereo. He took the CD out of its case, placed it in the stereo, and turned up the volume slightly. He wanted it to be audible, but no so much that conversation was hard to make. Eren walked over to the couch and sat on the other end, wary of invading Levi’s personal space.

 

“So,” Eren began, “how did you find out about this band? You don’t really seem like you’d be interested in this type of music.” Eren took a sip of his soda. Levi sat with perfect posture; his back was perfectly straight and he held his drink with his hands sitting on his lap.

 

“Remember what you said about it ‘not being nice to label someone’?” Levi smirked and Eren rolled his eyes. “It’s true that I don’t exactly listen to this type of music, or any music for that matter, but I was writing a paper for one of my classes about Japanese culture. I read about J-Rock bands so I thought it couldn’t hurt to look one up. The GazettE was the first one I found so I clicked the first video that popped up on YouTube and I kept playing video after video.” Levi took a sip of his tea. “How did you find out about them?”

 

“I’ve always been a fan of Japanese animation and music so I found them back when I was in middle school.” Eren put his feet up on the coffee table and rested his arm along the back of the couch. He watched as Levi scooted closer to the opposite end.

 

They sat in silence, sipping their drinks and listening to the music. A few minutes passed before Eren decided to try and strike up a conversation again.

 

“So...remember in the music store when we first met, you said that you ‘shouldn’t buy these kinds of CDs’. What did you mean by that?” Eren questioned. He had been curious ever since that happened, but hoped it wasn’t too personal to ask about. Levi glanced over at Eren and let out a deep sigh.

 

“It’s my step dad. I wouldn’t call him controlling, but he is very..judgemental. I’m expected to live up to his expectations.” Levi explained.

 

“Sounds rough.” Eren moved his hand from the back of the couch and into his lap.

 

“Yeah...my step brother is going to be following in his foot steps.” Levi snorted derisively, “So I have to prove myself some other way. Hence, law school.”

 

“And here I thought my life was hard.” Eren took a sip of his drink. Levi finally felt more relaxed and moved his arm to the armrest.

 

“Alright, your turn. I’m tired talking about me, tell me something about your own hard life” Levi said. He normally didn’t care to know too much information about others, but he couldn’t shake off his own curiosity.

 

“Ah, well my father wasn’t really around much. He’s a doctor and works about an hour away from my hometown. My mom was often doing her own thing, leaving me alone most of the time. So during my younger teen years I took out my anger by getting high, drinking, and having sex. One time my mom walked in on me and some guy banging and freaked out.” Eren laughed. “It was pretty bad. Luckily my dad still doesn’t know.” Eren glanced over at Levi surprised to see Levi’s cheeks were slightly red. “You okay dude?” Levi turned his face so Eren couldn’t see.

 

“I’m fine.” He said quietly. Eren stopped talking for a moment and thought about what he’d said that might cause Levi to react like this. Getting high and drinking might have earned him a disapproving look, so it must be the sex. Was it underage sex that bothered him..or the topic in general?

 

“Are you a virgin?” Eren asked teasingly. Levi quickly turned to face Eren, his mouth hanging open, eyes wide, and face bright red. “Wait shit, I was joking. Are you really a virgin?”

 

“Can you please stop saying that.” Levi said, panic in his voice.

 

“Okay, okay sorry. But like, you have to have dated a couple people at least, right?”

 

“It’s not really something important to me. I’ve been busy with school and work.”

 

Eren was processing the information he had just heard. Number one: the guy he met in the music store has never dated anyone. Number two: the guy he met in the music store was a virgin. Number three: he was a virgin. He decided he wasn’t going to beat around the bush anymore and just come out and ask him something he needed to confirm.

 

“You’re gay, right?” Eren asked. Levi was taking a sip of his drink and instantly spewed the liquid back into his cup. He put his cup down on the coffee table and took in a deep breath.

 

“Is..it that obvious?” He asked.

 

“Eh, it’s not really that I could tell, I was just hoping you’d be. You’re really attractive.” Eren glanced over towards Levi and they looked into each other’s eyes for the first time that night. There was a faint blush still lingering on Levi’s face. Eren slowly inched closer to Levi, hoping not to spook him. Suddenly, their faces were only a few inches apart and Levi could feel his face burning up. ‘ _When did he get so close?! What is happening?!_ ’ Levi thought to himself. His body was frozen and he couldn’t react. He swallowed hard as he saw Eren’s face slowly move closer to his. He could feel the other’s breath across his lips and despite his panic, wasn’t especially inclined to move away. And then his phone started ringing, shattering the atmosphere and snapping Levi out of his daze.

 

“Shit.” Levi muttered as Eren moved away. He reached into his pocket and checked the time before he answered his phone. Eren watched as Levi gave short, irritated responses to whoever was on the other end of the call. “Hello? Yeah. Alright. I’ll be home soon. Bye.” Levi hung up his phone and sighed. “I have to go...when did the music stop?”

 

“Oh, I guess it ended awhile ago.” Eren scratched the back of his head. Levi got up from the couch and grabbed his bag. Eren stood up with him and walked him out of the building.

 

“Guess I’ll see you around.” Levi said. Eren stood in the doorway of the apartment building.

 

“Is it alright if I text you tomorrow?” He asked.

 

“...Yeah.” Levi replied quietly, recalling what almost happened moments ago. They said their goodbyes and Levi walked a few blocks before calling his driver to come pick him up. Eren headed back upstairs to his apartment and cleaned up before heading to bed, sparing a thought now and again of what might have happened had the damned phone not rang.

 

* * *

 

 

The next day Eren went into work in the afternoon. He was greeted by Ymir, Reiner, and a taller guy. From previous descriptions, he assumed the new guy to be Bertholdt.

 

“Hey guy! So how did it go last night, huh? Did you get laid or what?” Ymir laughed.

 

“Man, I wish I was here to see that guy when he came in yesterday. Ymir told me what happened though. Come on, spill!” Reiner said. They followed Eren into the back room of the store as he put his backpack away in a locker. “This is Bertholdt by the way. You guys haven’t met yet have you?”

 

“Nope. Hey, I’m Eren.” Eren looked over at Bertholdt who stood awkwardly in the doorway. He gave a small nod in acknowledgement. “Well we mostly just listened to music. Talked a little bit about our lives. Shit, you guys won’t believe this though.” He paused a beat to build up suspense. “He’s a virgin.” The room fell silent for a moment before Ymir and Reiner both put their arms around Eren.

 

“Eren my man, it looks like you’ve hit the jackpot!!” Reiner let out a hearty laugh. Ymir patted his back and shook her head in agreement.

 

“Come on, knock it off,” He freed himself from their grasp and closed his locker. “I did almost sneak in a kiss, but his phone went off. The look on his face as I got closer to him, ugh, it was a sight to see.” He reminisced on the memory of that moment.

 

When they were done goofing around, they moved into the store and got to work. Eren sat at the counter while Reiner and Bertholdt put away new cd’s and vinyl they got in stock. Ymir walked next door to go pick up drinks for them and to flirt with Krista. While he had the time, Eren decided to take out his phone and send Levi a text.

 

‘ _I had fun last night. Does that sound too...I’ll just go with that._ ’ Eren hit send on his phone and patiently waited for a reply. A few minutes later his phone alerted him to a reply. He looked to see what Levi had said. It simply read “same”’ ’ _..Of course he would send a one word reply_.’ Eren thought. He was about to say something back when the phone beeped again. ‘ _I wouldn’t mind hanging out again sometime…_ ’ Eren threw his fist up in the air in silent victory, then looked around to make sure nobody saw him.

 

* * *

 

 

 

Levi sat in his room. He looked at his phone, displaying yet another text from Eren ‘ _Just tell me when you have a free day and we can plan something._ ’ He was in the process of typing out a reply when there was a knock on his door.

 

“Come in.” Levi said. The door opened and Erwin walked inside.

 

“Are you almost finished with your work? I was about to run some errands and wanted to know if you’d like to tag along.” Erwin asked.

 

“Yeah, I’m finishing up now.” Levi said putting his phone down. Erwin watched him carefully.

 

“Are you texting?” He questioned. Levi looked at his phone, then up to Erwin.

 

“Yeah…” Levi said quietly.

 

“Finally giving in to technology I see.” He laughed. “By the way, where were you at so late last night?”

 

“A friend’s place.”

 

“A friend? Was it Hange?”

 

“God no. It’s a...new friend.” Levi looked back down at his phone.

 

“A new friend? You?” Erwin laughed. “Well, this is interesting. Glad to see you aren’t just leaving the house to go out alone at least. You should bring your new friend over sometime.”

 

“Feel free to leave me alone at any time. Thought we had errands to run. Let me finish this and I’ll come find you.” Levi turned to look at his laptop.

 

“I’ll be waiting downstairs.” Erwin said as he left Levi’s room. When Levi heard the door click, he snatched his phone up and hastily finished replying to Eren.

 

‘ _I’m generally free Friday-Sundays unless I say otherwise._ ’ Levi hit send.

 

‘ _Today is Saturday. Do you want to hang out again tonight? :)_ ’ Eren replied. Levi suddenly recalled the almost kiss that happened last night and felt his face turn red.

 

‘ _Not tonight. Next weekend would be better._ ’ He lied. He needed to recollect himself before he could face Eren again.

 

‘ _Alright. If you ever have some free time call :) you should stop by the store! I’ll let you know if I’m working that day._ ’

 

‘ _Sounds good._ ’

  
Levi closed his laptop and put his phone in pocket. He grabbed his jacket and left his room to meet up with his brother.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bet you guys weren't expecting Levi to be a virgin. It's probably one of my favorite things about this fic haha. At first I was worried the way Levi acts in this chapter was too OOC but then again this is an AU and while his personality is mostly the same he still has some differences. Anyway hope you guys liked it! Will start working on the next chapter probably tomorrow.


	5. Movies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eren and Levi go to see a movie. Later at Eren's apartment he is eager to continue what was interrupted last time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Holy crap, two chapters in one week?!?!
> 
> I had yesterday off of work and I literally spent the whole day writing this chapter. I am so proud of myself. My friend was able to edit it for me while I was asleep so I could post it today! Hope you like it.

“Hey, Levi!” Hange yelled as she ran up to the short man. They had just gotten out of class. Levi stopped and turned to face her.

“What is it, shitty glasses?” He said, disinterest lacing his tone.

“You sure were on your phone a lot in class. That’s very unlike you.” She said. It had been almost a week since he visited Eren’s apartment and they had been texting a lot, though Eren was always the one initiating conversation. “Who have you been texting all week?!” Hange asked with excitement.

“It’s none of your business.” Levi started to walk away. Unsurprisingly, Hange scampered after him.

“Oh, come on!” She wheedled. “When have I ever shared your secrets with anyone?”

“Never. Because I never tell you my secrets.” He felt his phone vibrate in his pocket and pulled it out to look. Hange looked over his shoulder and caught a glimpse of the text.

“Hmmm who’s Eren? Your boyfriend??” She questioned. Levi shoved her away, ignoring her barrage of questions.

“He’s just a friend.” He replied, putting his phone back in his pocket.

“Just a friend? Does Petra know about this friend?” Hange followed Levi’s every step.

“Don’t you have something to do instead of bothering me?”

“I have my next class in a few minutes, but I just wanted to talk to you!”

“I don’t have time to talk. I’m going to meet with Petra now.” Levi picked up his pace, trying to leave Hange behind.

“Fine, fine, but you better tell me who this Eren is later!” Hange yelled as she stopped walking and let Levi make his escape.

* * *

 

As Levi entered a small coffee shop, he heard his name called out by a short, ginger haired girl.

She was sitting in the back away from the other customers, so he gave her a short nod of acknowledgment before grabbing his coffee and weaving his way through the tables toward her. “It’s nice to see you. How’ve you been?” She asked when Levi was settled down across from her.

“Nice to see you too, Petra. I’ve been swamped with school work, but other than that I’m fine. How are you and what’s his face?” Levi asked, taking a sip of his coffee.

“You mean Auruo? We’re doing fine.” She said. “What did you want to talk to me about? Did something happen?” She had a worried tone in her voice. Levi held his coffee in both his hands and looked down at the cup.

“I...met someone.” He said quietly.

“Huh? You met someone?” Petra questioned. “Like..a someone someone or just a someone? Do you mean a guy?!” Her tone hurriedly moved from worried to overly excited.

“Yeah.” Levi replied.

“This is great news! What’s his name? What’s he like? Does he have a job? Go to school? How old is he?” She asked, sitting on the edge of her seat.

“Tch, settle down would you? I’ve only know him for about a week and we’ve only hung out once.” Levi said.

“Sorry! I’m just really happy for you! Maybe we’ll finally be able to stop this fiance act. Aurou’s been putting up with it for so long, but if we’re going to be getting anywhere things really need to change” Petra brushed her hair behind her ear.

“Maybe our parent’s shouldn’t have set up this farce of an engagement in the first place.” Levi ground out.

“We were young. Nothing we could have done.” Petra shrugged. “So come on, you have to know something about the guy that you can tell me!”

“His name is Eren.” Levi took another sip of his coffee. “He’s eighteen and works at a music store. As far as I know his life’s aspiration is to start a band.”

“Eren, huh? He’s so young. Doesn’t sound like the kind of person I thought you would go for. What does he look like?”

“Like a deviant.” Levi snorted. “He’s got piercings all over his face and ears. His nails are painted black and he wears eyeliner smudged around his eyes.” Levi looked up at Petra and saw her eyes were wide in what he assumed to be shock.

“Well...this sure is interesting.” She said. “What about him do you like?”

“I don’t really know myself. His eyes are gorgeous though and his face is just...perfect…” Levi trailed off in thought. “Oh, I think I have a picture on my phone. I don’t know why he sent it to me.” Levi pulled his phone out and looking through his messages to find the picture Eren had sent him earlier in the week. He pulled it up and handed it to Petra.

“Oh wow.” She said. “He does have really nice eyes.” Petra handed his phone back to him. “I’d love to meet him sometime. I hope you two end up getting along.” She said with a smile on her face.

Levi gave a noncommittal grunt and tucked his phone back into a pocket. The two of them sat for awhile longer, talking in the coffee shop until Petra had to go. They exited the coffee shop together and waved goodbye before going their separate ways.

* * *

 

“Eren, did you invite me over just to help clean your apartment?” Armin questioned. He was washing the dishes that had stacked up in Eren’s sink since the day he moved in. “Have you cleaned anything since you’ve been here?! This place is a wreck.”

“I’ve cleaned up a little bit…once or twice...” Eren mumbled as he organized everything in his living room.

“By a little bit you mean move everything around until it looked cleaner than what it originally did.” Armin said.

“Okay I haven’t cleaned since I’ve been here okay? I’ve been busy!” Eren finished putting away CD’s and grabbed a broom to sweep his floor.

“I honestly doubt that. Even with work you can still clean this place up a little bit when you get home. I bet you’re up till god knows when playing computer games all night.” Armin finished washing the pile of dishes and started wiping down the counter. “Eren, this is seriously disgusting. Am I going to have to come over everyday just to make sure you’re cleaning?”

“No, mom.” Eren sighed.

“Good.” Armin laughed. “Now, care to explain to me why you had a sudden desperate need for cleanliness?” He asked. “Is that guy you’ve been talking about coming over or?”

“He’s coming over tomorrow. Well, we’re going to see a movie first, then I plan on bringing him back here.” Eren said.

“Try not to scare him away, Eren. This guy is probably the most normal person we’ve ever gotten to know.” Armin sighed.

“I don’t plan on banging him tomorrow!” Eren shouted. “Just maybe make out with him or something…” Eren scratched his head. Armin shook his head.

“What am I going to do with you…”

It took them another two hours to restore Eren’s apartment to an acceptable level of clean. When they were done they sat down on the couch and turned on netflix.

“Thanks Armin, I really couldn’t have done this without you.” Eren said, ruffling his friends hair.

“What are best friends for?” Armin laughed. “I have to say, though, this apartment looks and smells like a totally different place. I’m sure your friend will be happy about that. Just try to keep it like this for awhile, okay?”

“I won’t make any promises.” Eren snorted.

* * *

 

It was Friday night. Eren was standing outside the local movie theater anxiously waiting for Levi to show up. A few minutes passed and he checked his phone. ‘ _He should be here soon._ ’ He said to himself. He put his phone away and as soon as he looked up, he saw Levi walking up to him. _‘Right on time.’_

“Hey.” Levi said as he approached Eren. “How long have you been waiting?”

“Not that long, I got here a few minutes ago. I was worried you’d be waiting for me.” Eren laughed. “You ready to go in?”

“Yeah, let’s go.” Eren insisted that he pay for the both of them and Levi didn’t argue. Instead, Levi bargained that he would pay for the drinks and popcorn. The movie they decided on was a horror movie that just came out. Eren worried that maybe it would be too cliche, a horror movie on the first date, but it was the only movie they could both agree on so he swallowed his reservations. They sat down in the theater and made comfortable small talk until the movie started.

“So, do anything exciting today?” Eren asked.

“If you call homework exciting, then yes.” Levi snorted.

“I couldn’t think of anything more exciting to do.” Eren laughed and stuffed his face full of popcorn. He offered Levi some and Levi took a handful.

“And you,” Levi said before eating a piece of popcorn. “did you do anything exciting today?”

“Well work was kind of busy, surprisingly. We got a bunch of new CD’s and vinyls in stock and a lot of people came in to pick them up.” Eren said, taking a sip of his soda. “Store made more money than we normally do.”

“How much does your store normally make in one day?” Levi asked.

“Eh, it depends. We make enough money for everyone to get paid, that’s all I care about.” Eren answered.

“Good point.” Levi said. The lights in the theater dimmed as the previews popped up on the screen. Levi and Eren went quiet as the movie started.

The movie was more gory than scary. Eren would glance over at Levi every now and then to see his reactions to certain parts of the film. Most of the time he just kept a straight face that made it look like he was wholly uninterested. At one point they both reached for the popcorn at the same time, causing their hands to casually brush against each other. Levi quickly pulled his own hand away and Eren had to smother a laugh. ‘ _Cute._ ’  Another time, when Eren went to catch a glimpse of Levi he caught Levi looking back at him. As soon as he notice Eren watching him, he turned to look back at the movie screen.

Eren thought he would take a chance and see how Levi would react if he tried to make some sort of physical contact with him. They finished their popcorn and Eren shifted forward to place the empty bucket on the ground. He glanced over and noted that Levi’s hand was placed on his thigh. ‘ _Trying to hold his hand while at the movies on the first date? How more cliche can I get, seriously._ ’ Eren thought to himself. He slowly moved his hand towards Levi’s, hoping for a positive reaction. He lightly touched Levi’s hand to see if he would pull away. When he didn’t, he gently placed his hand on top of Levi’s, peeking out of the corner of his eye to observe Levi’s reaction. Though the theater was dark, he could still see a faint blush painted across his cheeks. He felt Levi’s hand twitch under his. ‘ _His hands are so soft._ ’ Eren thought.

Levi felt himself freeze up as Eren’s hand rested on top of his own. He tried to keep himself calm. He didn’t want to mess this up. Angling his hand slightly, he made an opening for Eren to slip his hand through his own and lace their fingers together. Eren’s hand was so warm. Levi admitted to himself that he liked the feeling of their hands together. Eren’s thumb stroked the back of Levi’s hand carefully and as the movie continued Levi became steadily less tense and eventually became totally relaxed.

 

* * *

The movie ended and Eren reluctantly released their hands. He picked up the empty popcorn bucket and they made their way out of the theater.

“I felt like that movie was trying too hard to be graphic.” Levi commented as they walked down the sidewalk. Since most places where within walking distance, Eren rarely drove his car anywhere.

 

“Agreed. The ending was too predictable.” Eren said. They walked for a couple of blocks until they were in front of a familiar building. They went up the elevator a couple floors and then made their way inside Eren’s apartment. Levi observed the space around him as he walked towards the couch.

“Wow. This place looks a helluva lot different than the last time I was here.” He said, taking a seat.

“Yeah, I had a friend come over and help me clean. It was...pretty bad.” Eren admitted. “I’ll be right back.” He disappeared into what Levi assumed was his bedroom. Levi looked around more while he waited for Eren to come back. Everything was nicely organized and had it’s own place; Levi had to admit even he was impressed. Eren returned after a few minutes and walked towards a shelf.

“Want to listen to something?” He asked.

“Sure.” Levi replied.

“Any preferences?”

“Anything is fine.” Levi watched as Eren pulled out a vinyl and carefully set it up on his record player. The music started and Eren made his way to the couch, taking a seat right next to Levi instead of on the opposite end like the last time he was over. Levi felt himself tense up at once. This wasn’t like being in the movie theater; they were alone here. The memory of their last encounter on the couch floated up in his thoughts. He recalled how Eren’s face had been only a few centimeters away from his own, close enough to feel the other’s breath on his face. He could tell his face was turning slightly red at the thought. The soft melody of the music helped him stay calm and he focused on that to relax, until he felt a hand grab his own. He looked up to see Eren staring at him.

“You know…” Eren began. “Last time we were interrupted, but this time I won’t let you get away so easily.” A sly smirk formed across his face. Levi didn’t have time to respond as the distance between them quickly faded and he felt lips press against his own. The cold metal of Eren’s lip ring dug into his skin. Levi instinctively leaned back and Eren followed, keeping their lips locked.  A few seconds passed and Eren moved away. He opened his eyes to see Levi’s shocked expression.

“You know, most people close their eyes when they kiss.” Eren chuckled. Levi blinked a few times before turning his face away from Eren to try and hide his embarrassment. A warm hand touched his face and moved it so their eyes met again. “You’re cute.” Eren said in a low voice. Levi was about to retort when their lips met for the second time. This time Levi closed his eyes and leaned into the touch. He did his best to mimic Eren’s movements, but he was having a hard time keeping up. Eventually, Eren pulled away again.

“You kinda suck at this.” He laughed.

“S-shut up!” Levi said, flustered. “I’ve never done this before okay…” He swore he had never felt more embarrassed in his entire life.

“It’s okay.” Eren said. “I’ll teach you.” Eren stroked Levi’s bottom lip with his thumb. “Open your mouth slightly. Don’t forget to breathe through your nose.”

‘Wh-” Levi began to say before Eren moved back in. He felt Eren’s tongue graze the bottom of his lip before invading his mouth. Levi jumped at the unfamiliar sensation. ‘ _Shit._ ’ He thought to himself as he slid his tongue across Eren’s. ‘ _Should have figured the delinquent would have a tongue piercing too._ ’

Their tongues entwined and Eren playfully bit on Levi’s, slipping his own tongue back into his mouth to gently suck on the other’s. He released it with a slight popping sound.

“You’re a fast learner.” Eren spoke softly. They looked into each other’s eyes.

“Well…” Levi paused. “I have a good teacher…” He hated himself for saying that, but he couldn’t let Eren be the only one flirting. His response gave Eren a start of surprise, but it made him happy to hear what sounded like Levi admitting that he at least enjoyed what they were doing. He smiled and moved back in for another kiss, this time more aggressive. He bit down on Levi’s bottom lip and sucked on it roughly. He was pleased to hear a small groan escape the back of Levi’s throat. One of Eren’s hands grabbed onto Levi’s side as the moved to tangle in Levi’s hair. As he relaxed, Levi moved his arms and wrapped them around Eren’s neck, pulling the younger boy closer to him. He was nervous to admit it to himself, but he was quickly becoming _very_ turned on.

Eren was finding it harder to control himself as Levi responded more and more. He leaned forward and their bodies pressed against each other as they sank into the couch. Eren released his lips from Levi’s and began to place kisses down Levi’s neck. He gently bit and sucked on the soft flesh as he made his way towards Levi’s collar bone. He pulled Levi’s shirt down slightly and bit down, roughly sucking on the skin. Levi squirmed beneath Eren. After a few seconds Eren released the flesh and sat up, satisfied with the dark, bruised spot he left there. Levi opened his eyes and looked up at Eren. ‘ _Oh god..._ ’ Eren thought to himself. The sight beneath him was too much to take in.

“Fuck…” He said out loud. “You’re so fuckin’ hot.”

“So are you.” Levi didn’t even think before he blurted it out.  ‘ _Shit, that was out loud.’_ Eren placed a hand on Levi’s cheek and Levi shifted his hand to rest upon Eren’s. As Eren moved down for another kiss, Levi’s phone rang. In a rush of movement, Levi pushed Eren off of him and grabbed his phone.

“Hello? I’m at a friend’s. Yeah. I’ll be home soon. Bye.” He hung up his phone and sighed. He rubbed furiously at his face and ran his fingers through his hair. “I need to get going.” He groaned, the reluctance obvious in his tone.

“Why don’t you just stay the night?” Eren asked. Levi looked at him, feeling the now familiar heat on his face again. Levi thought about what they just did; if he stayed the night who knows what would happen.

“That’s a really bad idea.” He said, shaking his head.

“Heh, yeah I guess so.” Eren scratched his head. “So, same time next week?” He asked. Levi stood up and collected his things.

“Yeah.” Levi replied. Eren walked Levi downstairs to the front of the apartment building. Before Levi could walk away Eren grabbed his arm and pulled him in for a final kiss.

“I really enjoyed tonight.” He murmured into Levi’s ear. He gave Levi’s arm a quick squeeze and then let go of the shorter man.

“Me too…” Levi replied quietly. They said their goodbyes and Eren headed back up to his room. When he walked back into his apartment he leaned against the door and slowly slid to the ground, placing a hand over his mouth.

  
“...Shit”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Awkward virgin Levi's first make out. How precious. While writing this I noticed that their personalities are pretty much opposite as to how they are normally portrayed. I really enjoy writing a flustered Levi. Also Eren is so mean I swear. He needs to stop teasing Levi. 
> 
> Not sure when I will get the next chapter out. Hopefully sometime next week though!


	6. Moving Forward

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eren discovers there is a recording studio beneath the music store. Levi is conflicted on how to move things forward with Eren.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I BET YOU THOUGHT I'D GIVEN UP!  
> I actually had a little less than half this chapter written for a few months now. I was just so stuck on what to write next. And it finally came to me. I hope it was somewhat worth the wait??
> 
> also remember that I track the tag "fic:tdd" on tumblr!

Eren was sitting at the front counter of his work place. He tapped the surface with a pen and rested his face in his hand.

“Something bothering you, Eren?” Reiner walked up to him. “You seem like your mind has been somewhere else all day.” Startled, Eren sat up.

“Huh? Oh, I’ve just been thinking about the band. Right now it’s just the two of us. We still need a bassist and another guitarist.” Eren said.

“Bassist? Bertl plays bass. Maybe you can ask if he wants to join.” Reiner said. “He should be here in a few minutes. As for another guitarist, I’ll ask around. I used to jam with some people, I’ll see if any of them would be interested.”

“Thanks man, that’d be really helpful. All this waiting around for an email or phone call is bringing me down.” Eren groaned. The front door opened and Bertholdt walked in. Eren immediately waved him over, his erratic arm movements quickly catching the other’s attention. “Hey Bertl! I heard you play the bass guitar. Would you be interested in joining a band with me and Reiner?” Bertholdt looked at Eren, then slowly shifted his gaze to Reiner.

“A..band?” Bertholdt questioned. Reiner gave an affirmative nod. “Hmm...I don’t have much else going on right now...I suppose it could be fun.” Eren threw his hands up in excitement, ignoring Bertl’s slightly less than enthusiastic response.

“Hell yeah!! Now we just need one more person and we can really get things rolling!!” He shouted.

“I don’t see why we can’t just start practicing now. By the way, where did you plan on holding practices?” Reiner asked. Eren paused.

“...Fuck, I didn’t think about that…” He banged his head on the counter. “Dammit.” Ymir came walking out from the back room.

“What’s all this chattering out here?” She asked.

“Eren has all these plans for a band, yet we have no where to practice.” Reiner stated. “real genius, this guy.”

“Shut uuuup,” Eren whined.

“You guys looking for some kind of studio?” Ymir questioned.

“Like we’d be able to afford rent. Even if it’s just a few days a week.” Eren’s response was muffled due to the current position of his face being shoved into the counter.

“Actually we have one in the basement.” Ymir said. The boys looked at her with surprised faces.

“What?! There’s a studio in the basement?!” Eren shouted. Ymir walked over to the front door and flipped the ‘open’ sign to ‘closed’. She then walked back towards the back room and gestures for the boys to follow. She took them through the door that Eren remembered lead to the way to get up to her apartment, but instead of walking up stairs there was a stairway leading down. When they reached the bottom Ymir opened the door and inside was a recording studio. It left Eren, Reiner, and Bertholdt speechless.

“My dad used to record music. I guess I forgot to tell you guys this was down here. All the equipment still works. I come down here once in awhile to clean up all the dust. There’s also a drum set.” Ymir walked over to the workstation. “Feel free to check everything out. There’s even a bathroom down here.”

“Ymir…” Eren stood next to her and looked through the window into the studio room. “This is incredible.” Reiner walked towards the door into the studio and opened it. He made his way inside and moved towards the drum set sitting in the room.

“This is an incredible drum set.” Reiner picked up the pair of sticks that were sitting on top of the drum stool and sat down.

“It should be in tune. I was down here not too long ago just messing around.” Ymir yelled from behind the glass. Reiner gripped onto the drum sticks and tapped on the drum lightly a few times. Once he he was used to the set up he started to play.

Eren closed his eyes and listened closely to the beat the Reiner was playing. He payed attention to the pace and then it came to him. He walked into the room where Reiner was playing the drums and picked up one of the guitars that was placed on a stand. He motioned for Reiner to continue playing as he plugged the guitar into an amp and made sure it was in tune. Once he was set, he took a deep breath in and started to play.

Ymir and Bertholdt were amazed by the sound the two were creating and found themselves bobbing their head to the beat of the music. Eren and Reiner synced perfectly and knew when it was time to end the song. A big smiled formed across both of their faces. Reiner got up and walked over to Eren, placing a hand on his shoulder.

“You know, Eren, this band thing might be a great idea after all.” He laughed. Eren nodded and they made their way back into the other room where they were greeted by Ymir’s lit up face.

“Holy shit guys that was fucking amazing!!” She exclaimed. “Eren, was that something you wrote?”

“Yeah actually. After listening to Reiner play the drums I remembered it and thought it would fit perfectly with what he was playing.” Eren said. “Hey Bert, you think you could come up with something on the bass to go along with that?”  Bertholdt nodded.

“ I will do my best.” He said with a determined face. Reiner patted Bertholdt on the back.

“That’s the spirit!” He said loudly. “Now how ‘bout we get back to work, huh?”

* * *

 

Levi was staring at himself in a mirror, shirtless. A conspicuous red mark practically glowed on his neck. ‘ _Fucking shit. How am I suppose to hide this??_ ’ He thought to himself. He quickly got dressed and threw a scarf around his neck before making his way downstairs and out the door towards the car that was waiting for him.

Upon arriving to his university, he was greeted by an eager and way too loud Hange.

“Levi!! I was waiting for you to get here! How’d your date go last night??” She spoke loudly as she walked next to Levi.

“It was fine.” He replied, trying to avoid eye contact with her. He knew if she looked directly in his eyes she’d be able to tell exactly what happened last night. She could read people like a book.

“Just fine, eh? Well that’s good to hear.” For once she wasn’t prying. Levi thought maybe she’d finally given up. That is, until…”It was so fine you had a wear a scarf around your neck today, huh?”

There it was. Levi shot her a nasty look to which she let out a laugh as she patted him on the back. “Hey, I’m proud of you bud! Finally coming out of that shell of yours. And here me and Petra thought you’d never find someone. You know how happy she is for you?”

“Trust me, I know how happy she is. She wouldn’t stop texting me last night asking how it was going. I had to actually turn my phone off during the movie so it would stop vibrating.” Levi sighed and Hange let out another bark of laughter.

“Well I gotta run to class. Remember If you need advice for anything, I’m more than willing to give it!” She winked at the short man as she ran off. He rolled his eyes and continued on his way to class.

* * *

 

It was around six when Levi got out of class. He walked down the city streets and made his way to a familiar music store. Eren had asked for an energy drink so he stopped by the convenience store next to the music store and grabbed a green tea for himself. Upon entering the music store he found Eren wasn’t at the front desk. After a quick glance around, Levi didn’t see him anywhere in the store. He sighed and made his way over to the girl at the counter.

“Excuse me, is Eren Jaeger here?” He asked the tanned girl.

“Oh you must be Levi! Yeah he’s downstairs in the studio. I’ll take you down. The name’s Ymir by the way.” She said as she got off the chair behind the counter and led Levi into the backroom.

“Nice to meet you.” He said. “I didn’t realize there was a studio in here.”

“Yeah my dad actually built it and would rent it out to people who needed to use it.”

“Your father owns this place?” Levi asked.

“Yep. I live in the apartment upstairs. My dad runs everything from the shadows.” She laughed. They made it downstairs and Ymir opened the door. “Hey Eren, you got a visitor!”

Levi walked into the room and looked around. He saw the big window that let you see into the other room and through that, Eren sitting on a chair with a guitar in his lap. As soon as he saw Levi he lept up. Despite his immediate reaction, he took the time to gently set the guitar down on a stand before running to Levi.

“Hey!!” He greeted with a huge grin on his face. Levi cursed him for having such a perfect smile.

“I got your drink.” He said as held the cold can up to Eren’s face. Eren flinched and took the can from Levi’s hand.

“Fuck that’s cold.” He laughed. “Thanks a lot.” He leaned in and kissed Levi on the cheek, which took him by surprise. “Come in here, I wanna show you what I’ve been working on.”

“I’ll leave you two alone now. Have fun.” Ymir said devilishly as she left the room and made her way back upstairs. Levi watched her go with an unamused face before following Eren into the other room. Eren picked up the guitar and they both took a seat on the floor.

“Isn’t this place great?” Eren said. “We’re going to have our band practices down here. Maybe we’ll even be able to make and sell cds with all this equipment.”

“It’s a little dusty down here.” Levi said scrunching his nose. He turned to face Eren and was greeted with lips pressed against his own.

“You’re ocd is showing.” Eren said looking into Levi’s eyes. Levi lightly punched his shoulder.

“Shut up,” he said, embarrassed. Eren laughed as he strummed his guitar lightly. “So, how goes the whole band thing? Find anyone else to join?” Levi asked. He recalled back to one of the many text messaging conversations him and Eren had. He knew about Reiner and Bertholdt, but Eren had yet to say if they found their final member.

“We’re still trying to find another guitarist. I didn’t think it would be this hard. You’d think that there would be a bunch of people out there that play guitar who would want to be in a band, ya know?”

“I suppose. I’m sure you’ll find someone soon.”

“Yeah…” Eren took a sip of his drink. He indulged in a long look at Levi and noticed the scarf around his neck. A wicked grin spread across his face.

“What?” Levi said, confused by Eren’s look. Eren pointed to his scarf.

“Sorry about that,” he said. Levi put a hand up to his neck.

“It’s ok,” he said quietly. Eren reached for the hand and slowly pulled the scarf off his neck to look at his handy work.

“It’s not that bad,” Eren laughed. He’d expected much worse honestly. “You could have worn a collared shirt to cover that up.”

“I overslept this morning and quickly threw on clothes without thinking about it.” Levi sighed. “I didn’t even know it was there until I got up this morning.”

“Next time I’ll be more careful, I promise!” Eren held up his hand as if taking a solemn oath. “Alright, how about I just get to the part where I start playing this song.”

“Go for it.” Levi said leaning back on his hands.

Eren began to play. The tune was surprisingly pleasant to Levi’s ears; he’d assumed that Eren would play more harsh sounding melodies. What really took caught him off guard was Eren’s singing. As soon as Eren began to sing, Levi felt himself hold his breath. The range on Eren’s voice was incredible. He effortlessly went from high to low with no apparent strain. It was smooth, but also gradually got rougher in parts of the song. Levi was so mesmerized he forgot to listen to what the lyrics were. As the song came to an end, Levi remembered to breathe.

“What do you think?” Eren said as he set the guitar down next to him.

“That was,” Levi had a hard time figuring out what to say. “incredible.”

“You think so?” Eren smiled, suddenly shy. Levi could see a faint redness across Eren’s face, which in return made Levi smile. For once, he was the one doing the embarrassing.

“You have an amazing voice. I’m really impressed.” Levi said. The fact that Eren was feeling embarrassed somehow brought out a different side of him. “I loved it.”

“That means a lot to me,” Eren said quietly, as he scratched his head and tried to hide his face. Levi’s body seemed to move on it’s own as he grabbed onto Eren’s arm. Eren turned his head to see Levi’s face only a few inches away from his. Levi closed the distance between them and pressed his lips firmly onto Eren’s. Eren wrapped his arms around Levi’s neck as he pulled him closer. Eren was very impressed and slightly aroused by Levi’s initiation. Their lips parted and they looked into each others eyes.Levi could see the intense want in Eren’s eyes. He panicked.

“It’s getting late. I have a lot of homework I need to do.” He saw the look in Eren’s eyes change and he bit his tongue, hating himself for his knee-jerk reaction.

“Oh, well I don’t want to keep you from your studies.” Eren stood up and helped Levi get up. “I should head home too. I’ll walk you out.”

* * *

 

When Levi got home he threw himself on his bed.

“Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.” He said to himself. He reached for his phone and dialed Petra’s number.

“Levi? Why are you calling so late? Is everything alright?” She sounded concerned.

“Yeah everything’s fine. I just need some advice.” He said.

“Is it about Eren?” She said with a hint of excitement in her voice.

“Yeah…”Levi sighed. “I feel like things are moving really fast. We’re not even in a relationship.”

“Have you guys, you know, done anything yet?” She asked.

“No, no, it’s not going that fast. Just...I don’t know…” The more Levi said everything out loud the dumber it sounded.

“I’m gonna go out on a limb here and guess at what’s going on. You’re scared of letting yourself get too close, but you’ve already developed firm feelings for him. Am I right?”

“Well you’re not wrong.”

“So why don’t you just ask him to be your boyfriend already?” Petra said in a frustrated tone. “Come on, Levi! Do you really need me to tell you that?”

“...You think he’ll say yes?”

“For crying out loud! I’m hanging up. Just ask him next time you see him. He’ll say yes. Goodnight Levi.” Petra sighed as she hung up the phone. Levi looked at his phone in defeat. As he was about to set it down, his text message tone went off. It was a goodnight text from Eren. He smiled and replied before setting it down. He got up and looked at himself in the mirror.

**  
**“Tomorrow...”


	7. No More Holding Back

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eren and Levi finally take a step forward in their relationship.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Look at me getting another chapter out so quickly. I knew my motivation would come back eventually. Things are about to get heated up in here. ;)))

On his day off, Eren managed to wake up and shower before noon. Armin shot him a text and asked if he wanted to meet up for lunch so he grabbed his things and made his way into town. They met up at a small family diner that they’d discovered during Eren’s first week of living in the city and had since become frequent visitors.

“How are classes going?” Eren asked Armin while munching on french fries.

“Exhausting. I should have only taken four classes. Five is pushing it for my first semester at college,” Armin rubbed his temples.

“I know something that can help you relax a bit,” Eren wiggled his eyebrows.

“No,” Armin said instantly after taking a big gulp of his coffee. “Changing the subject, how are things going with Levi?”

“They’re great,” Eren said. “It’s just…”

“Just what?”

“I feel kind of bad about some things. I think I make him a little uncomfortable when we kiss. Last night he pulled away almost as fast as he kissed me.”

“Why don’t you just ask him?” Armin stated.

“You know it’s hard for me to talk about my feelings,” Eren sipped on his soda.

“Which I, personally, find odd. You can flirt like no tomorrow, but when it comes to how you actually feel you clam up and won’t say a word.”

“Hey, it’s perfectly normal ok.”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever you say.” Armin rolled his eyes. “So are you guys ‘officially’ dating, or?”

“...No…” Eren sank into his seat.

“Don’t tell me you still have commitment issues. I thought you were serious about him?”

“I am! I am! I’m just unsure about how to bring it up!”

“Well you might want to hurry up and think about it. Levi doesn’t seem like the kind of guy who’s ok with just being pulled around without any kind of commitment.”

“Do you really think that?” Eren said with a hint of nervousness in his voice.

“Are you willing to wait and find out?” Armin asked. There was a brief pause before Eren spoke.

“I’ll do it tonight. No chickening out,” Eren said with a look of confidence on his face.

“Whatever you say,” His best friend shrugged. “Do you have plans with him tonight?”

“Not yet. We kinda stopped making actual plans and just somehow end up seeing each other everyday.”

“Now that’s cute,” Armin laughed. Eren threw a french fry at him.

“Shut it,” He tried to force back a smile, but failed. After they finished eating, Armin helped Eren pick up groceries and take them back to his place. They walked into Eren’s apartment and, to Armin’s surprise, it was pretty clean.

“I’m amazed it still looks this good every time I come over,” he said, kicking off his shoes.

“You can thank Levi for that. I’m not even allowed to have dishes in the sink without him noticing and saying something about it,” Eren sighed as he put grocery bags down on the table.

“So when do I get to meet him?” Armin asked as he followed after Eren.

“Looks like today. Just got a text from him saying his class got out early,” Eren replied as he typed on his phone.

“Great! I need to thank him for making you keep this place clean.”

“Very funny.”

“I thought so.”

When they were done putting away groceries they sat down on the couch and flipped on the tv.

“Are you nervous?” Armin asked Eren.

“A little bit I guess…” Eren twirled his thumbs.

“When will he be here?” Eren looked at phone.

“In a few minutes.” Suddenly there was a knock on the door. “Or right now,” Eren said as he darted up and swiftly walked over to the door, stopping at his hallway mirror to fix his hair before opening the door.

“Hey,” Levi said.

“Hey,” Eren could feel the palms of his hands becoming sweaty. “My friend Armin is here. He’s been wanting to meet you. He goes to your school.”

“Oh?” Levi followed Eren into the apartment. They found Armin standing next to the couch, eagerly waiting to meet his best friends soon-to-be boyfriend.

“Levi, this is my best friend Armin.”

“Nice to meet you!” Armin said.

“Nice to meet you as well,” Levi replied. Armin got a good look at Levi and was surprised to see that nothing about him really stuck out to him as special, though he had to admit that he was quite attractive. What struck him the most was the fact that Levi was about an inch shorter than he was. Normally Eren went for taller guys.

“Well I should get going, I have class in an hour. Maybe I’ll see you around campus sometime?” Armin patted Eren on the back and gave him a thumbs up before dashing out the door.

“What was that all about?” Levi questioned.

“Oh, nothing,” Eren said as he led Levi to the couch. “How was class?” Eren asked as they sat down.

“The professor just gave a small lecture before letting us go, so it wasn’t that bad. Did you get all your shopping done?”

“Yep. My mom sent me some money so I could get groceries. It’s nice to have food again. You want something to drink?” Eren got up from the couch and made his way towards the kitchen.

“Tea is fine,” Levi relaxed into the couch. He tried to gather his thoughts as he remembered the conversation he had with Petra last night. ‘ _I’m going to do it._ ’ he repeated to himself. Meanwhile, Eren was in the kitchen thinking much the same thing. He took a deep breath in and let it out slowly before exiting the kitchen and making his way back towards the couch. He set the drinks down on the coffee table and took a seat next to Levi.

“Want to watch a movie?” Eren asked.

“Sure.”

“Anything you want to see in particular?”

“Surprise me.”

Eren, once again, got up from the couch and walked to his dvd shelf. Browsing through the movies, he grabbed the first thing he saw and popped it in his dvd player. Before taking his seat took the necessary measures to prevent a glare appearing on the tv. He walked back into the kitchen and grabbed a bag of chips plopped next to Levi on the couch.

-

The movie seemed to go on forever. They were about halfway through the film and neither of them had said a word. Levi could tell there was something off about Eren and it made him nervous, while Eren continued to try and summon the courage to tell Levi how he felt. Eren reached for the the pack of cigarettes on the coffee table.

“Give me one of those,” Levi said as he grabbed the pack out of Eren’s hand, their skin making contact for the first time that day. Levi briefly felt how sweaty Eren’s hands were and he glanced at his face. Eren avoided eye contact as he lit his cigarette and passed the lighter to Levi. _‘If he’s going to ignore me then why did he invite me over?_ ’ Levi thought while taking a long drag from his cigarette.

They continued to watch the movie in silence. Both continued unconsciously smoking cigarette after cigarette until the room got so smokey they realized they’d forgotten to open a window. Eren put a fan in the window to let the smoke out and lit a few candles to try and cover the smell. As the movie credits began to roll, Levi got up to use the bathroom. He stood in front of the mirror and gave himself a mental pep talk. ‘ _Just go out there and ask him already,_ ’ he repeated to himself.

While Levi was in the bathroom, Eren paced around the living room. ‘ _I can make-out with him, sing for him and say dumb flirtatious things, but I can’t just ask him to be my boyfriend? It shouldn’t be this hard_ ’ he thought. ‘ _Then again I’ve never asked anyone out. I’ve always been the one asked out..._ ’

Levi looked at his phone to check the time. It was getting late. It was now or never. He took a deep breath and walked out of the bathroom. As the door opened, Eren quickly turned his gaze towards him. They both walked towards each other until they were about two feet apart.

“I-,” They both spoke at the same time.

“Sorry. You go first.” Eren said. Levi took another deep breath and on the exhale everything came out.

“Go out with me.” The words flew out of Levi’s mouth. Eren’s eyes opened wide in surprise. Levi noticed and became worried that it was a bad expression, so he continued to ramble on. “I find you very attractive and we’ve spent so much time together I think it’s time-!” He was cut short by lips firmly pressing against his own. Eren had grabbed him by the front of his shirt and pulled him in. When Eren let him go, they made eye contact.

“So is that a yes?” Levi grinned. Eren shook his head ‘yes’ as he went in for another kiss, this one more aggressive. Eren wrapped his arms around Levi’s neck as he slowly walked forward to trap Levi against the wall. Levi placed his hands on Eren’s waist and pulled him as close as possible. Eren dragged his teeth along the shorter man’s bottom lip before biting down and pulling it back. Levi let out a groan, his right hand subconsciously moving under Eren’s shirt. Eren felt a jolt of electricity run through his body as the hand made contact with his skin.

When they broke away from the kiss Levi thought it was time for a little payback. He kissed down Eren’s jawline and down his neck before latching onto a patch of skin right in the middle of his neck. He sucked on the skin, unaware of how rough he was being. Eren squirmed at the sensation and let out a moan that was louder than he expected. This encouraged Levi to continue sucking and biting down. He came back to his senses when Eren grabbed onto his shoulders and pushed him against the wall.

“Spend the night,” Eren panted. Levi didn’t even respond as he grabbed his phone out of his pocket and sent a text to his step-brother, telling him he needed to get away from the house for the night and to cover for him. He hit send, shoved his phone back into his pocket, and instantly went in for another kiss.  Eren wrapped his arms around Levi’s waist and steadily lured him into the bedroom. Levi was unaware of his surroundings until he felt something touch the back of his knees. As he opened his eyes, he felt Eren push him backwards and fell onto the bed without protest. The cast of a faint light over the dark room helped Levi to see the sight in front of him. Eren’s cheeks were painted red, his eyes glazed over with lust. Levi let his eyes travel up and down Eren’s figure, eyes catching on obvious tent that Eren was pitching. He watched as Eren’s eyes slowly traveled down his body, easily picking up on Levi’s own arousal.

Feeling embarrassed, Levi covered his crotch with his hands. Suddenly, Eren dropped to his knees and slid his hands up Levi’s thighs, spreading them apart.

“Can I?” Eren asked, his voice dangerously low. His hands slid on top of Levi’s and slowly moved them to either side of him. Levi closed his eyes and gripped onto the bedding as he listened to Eren undo his belt buckle and unzip his pants. His heart raced and his body felt like it was on fire. The tightness in his pants was relieved as the cold air hint his erection. He bit down on his bottom lip and slowly opened one of his eyes.

“Holy shit…” Eren accidentally said out loud, sharply pulling Levi from his hazy state.

“W-what?” He stuttered in embarrassment.

“It’s big.” Only after saying it did Eren realize it wasn’t in his head. He tensed up and slowly glanced up at Levi to make sure he didn’t say anything weird. Levi’s face was bright red and his mouth hung open. Eren took this as a good sign and moved his hand to wrap around Levi’s length. Levi let out a small gasp as the hand made contact with his throbbing heat. Eren moved his hand slowly up and down, squeezing at the head each time he brought his hand up. He tried not to laugh at the curse words that left Levi’s mouth in a whisper.

Eren couldn’t hold back any longer. He let his tongue slowly, but firmly, drag up Levi’s shaft. Levi felt the hot metal of Eren’s tongue ring hit his skin and flinched. Eren’s tongue slid up and down a few times before he slid it over the head. He lapped up the pre-cum that leaked out and began to gently suck on the tip. Levi clenched his toes and slightly hunched over, trying his best to suppress his moans. When Eren was satisfied with Levi’s reactions, he swiftly took the whole thing into his mouth. Levi released the moan he had been holding in as his hands shot out to grab onto Eren’s shoulders. With that intense of a reaction, Eren was surprised Levi hadn’t cum right then and there.

With his hand, Eren grabbed onto the base of Levi’s cock and moved it up and down in time with his bobbing. With each motion, Eren made sure to drag his tongue ring against the skin. Levi could no longer control the noises he was making as he melted in Eren’s hands.

“E-eren,” He choked out, “I’m-.” His words were lost as Eren began to pick up speed. Eren had now placed his hands onto Levi’s thighs and held him down. Levi was hunched over and roughly grasping Eren’s hair. Levi’s voice went hoarse as he felt warmth pool in the pit of his stomach as he was relieved. Eren stopped his movements as he tasted Levi on his tongue and waited a few seconds before removing his mouth. Levi’s chest rose and fell rapidly. He watched as Eren slowly got up and grabbed a tissue from the box on his nightstand; he spit into it and threw it into the trashcan.

“Sorry,” Levi said awkwardly.

“I don’t mind,” Eren said as he got on the bed. He patted the spot next to him and Levi slowly moved next to him.

“Do you want me to…?” Levi said slowly, placing a hand on Eren’s thigh. He cautiously moved it up until it reached the hem of Eren’s pants.

“You don’t have to. It’s fine,” Eren said, not expecting that Levi was actually going to attempt anything.  

“It’s not fair for it to be only me,” Levi argued as he shakingly pulled down Eren’s pants to reveal his erection. Levi paused for a moment, taking in the sight and tried to recollect himself before reaching to grab the length. Eren suddenly grabbed onto Levi’s arm.

“W-wait,” he said in a panicked tone. Unsure if he should continue, Levi tested the waters and smeared the pre-cum that had gathered on the tip of Eren’s cock and used it as lubricant to jerk him off. It was then that he realized what Eren was trying to say as a white substance quickly shot out as Eren’s body tightened up.

“S-shit,” Eren moaned. Levi removed his hand and looked at the mess that now covered both him and Eren. “Shit, shit, shit,” Eren repeated. He couldn’t believe he just did that. He was so embarrassed he wanted to die. Never in his life had he cum that fast. “I’m so sorry, shit,” Eren reached for the box of tissues to try and clean up the mess. He felt as if his face was on fire; he couldn’t even look Levi in the eyes. As he wiped off Levi’s hand, he felt the older man’s free hand touch his face. Eren looked up and was greeted with a kiss.

“It’s fine,” Levi said softly as he stroked Eren’s hair behind his ear. The feeling made Eren relax.

“We should probably take these shirts off,” Eren said pointing out the stains. “I’ll let you borrow a shirt tomorrow to wear, I swear I have normal looking clothes.” He laughed as he removed his shirt.

“I’ll believe it when I see it,” Levi chuckled, removing his shirt as well.

“Might as well take off our pants too so we can sleep,” Eren said. As he kicked off his pants, he looked over at Levi and his jaw dropped instantly. Levi may have been short, but he sure as hell wasn’t scrawny, not like Eren. He was impressively muscular. He began to feel self conscious of his almost non-existent abs.

“Do you work out?” Eren asked as they both finished taking their pants off and getting comfortable in bed.

“Occasionally. I normally just run,” Levi replied as he let Eren get close to him. “Haven’t done it in awhile though. Been busy with school work. Why do you ask?”

“Just making observations is all,” Eren yawned. They went quiet for awhile. Levi closed his eyes and let his fingers run through Eren’s hair. Eren rested his hand on Levi’s abs, revelling in this excuse to touch them. As sleep crept up on them, Levi kissed him on his forehead.

“I’m glad I asked you out,” Levi whispered softly.

**  
**“Me too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I realized throughout writing the story there were a few minor things that I keep forgetting about. But it seems like nobody has noticed so I guess it's not that big of a deal. B'']


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